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Qualifying report

McLaren junior de Vries takes second Aragon pole

Nyck de Vries will start the second Formula Renault 3.5 race at Aragon from pole after topping an ultra-close qualifying session, in which the first four cars were split by less than a tenth of a second.

Nyck de Vries, DAMS

Nyck de Vries, DAMS

Second place Jazeman Jaafar, Fortec Motorsports, race winner Oliver Rowland, Fortec Motorsports, third place Dean Stoneman, DAMS
Jazeman Jaafar, Fortec Motorsports, in the pitlane
Dean Stoneman, DAMS and Matthieu Vaxivière, Lotus
Matthieu Vaxivière, Lotus
Jazeman Jaafar, Fortec Motorsports
Oliver Rowland, Fortec Motorsports takes the chequered flag

DAMS driver de Vries went to the top of the timesheets in the final minutes of the session after becoming the first man to break the 1m42s barrier, only to be quickly deposed by Saturday's race winner Oliver Rowland, who held provisional pole when the chequered flag was shown.

But, on his final attempt, de Vries was able to string together a time of 1m41.609 to beat Rowland to the second pole position of the weekend by just eight hundredths.

Race one polesitter Matthieu Vaxiviere threatened to depose the McLaren protégé when he set the fastest first sector time of the session on his final attempt, but the Lotus driver fell short by just 0.024s and will therefore start from the outside of the front row.

Rowland hung on to third place, a mere thousandth quicker then Fortec teammate Jazeman Jaafar, with Pietro Fantin (Draco) and Tom Dillmann (Carlin), who enjoyed a spell at the head of the times late on, completing the top six.

De Vries' teammate Dean Stoneman will start seventh, ahead of Nicholas Latifi (Arden), Tio Ellinas (Strakka) and Alfonso Celis Jr (AVF), who was quickest at the mid-point of a session that had started off in damp conditions.

Meanwhile, Roberto Merhi's difficult weekend continued as the Manor Formula 1 driver could do no better than a lowly 18th position for Pons Racing.

Qualifying results:

Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
Nyck de Vries DAMS 1m41.609
Matthieu Vaxiviere Lotus 0.024
Oliver Rowland Fortec Motorsports 0.080
Jazeman Jaafar Fortec Motorsports 0.081
Pietro Fantin Draco 0.238
Tom Dillmann Carlin 0.259
Dean Stoneman DAMS 0.273
Nicholas Latifi Arden Motorsport 0.289
Tio Ellinas Strakka Racing 0.328
10  Alfonso Celis AVF 0.354
11  Beitske Visser AVF 0.476
12  Gustav Malja Strakka Racing 0.704
13  Meindert van Buuren Lotus 0.728
14  Sean Gelael Carlin 0.751
15  Bruno Bonifacio Draco 0.805
16  Egor Orudzhev Arden Motorsport 0.906
17  Roy Nissany Tech 1 Racing 1.066
18  Roberto Merhi Pons Racing 1.248
19  Aurelien Panis Tech 1 Racing 1.418
20  Philo Paz Armand Pons Racing 1.516

 

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